


Damian the Artist

by Shmooshedbreadsticks



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Robin: Son of Batman (Comics)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 02:20:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20074507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shmooshedbreadsticks/pseuds/Shmooshedbreadsticks
Summary: Everyone knows Damian Wayne draws, but no one ever asks why he draws





	Damian the Artist

Dick's POV:

"UGHHHH" I groan loudly. Bruce told all of us to "take a break" and hang out with other people because some people *cough* Damian, Tim, and Jason *cough* needed to work on their interpersonal skills. Obviously I took the vacation too. I mean, hanging out with Barbra to do something other than work on a case would be GREAT. But ~noooo~ Bruce called us all back to the manor. I mean, I'm happy to help, but I still want a vacation.

I walk into the cave to see Jason and Tim, who apparently also wanted their vacation. Tim was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses, and Jason was in sweats. I guess they had different ideas of what they wanted to do for vacation. 

It wasn't long until Bruce met us in the cave followed by Damian and Alfred. It was kind of strange thought. Both Alfred and Damian were usually composed in some "proper" and "refined" way, but only Alfred was.

"What the heck Bruce? I was going on my way to Honolulu!" Tim whined. Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose, while Damian sat in a chair, seemingly paying no attention. He seemed fully invested in his sketch book. 

"I know I said you guys could have a vacation, but something came up. The League needs my help off-world, so I need you guys to watch Gotham." Bruce explained.

"M'Kay. But I'm staying in this" Jason said gesturing to his sweatpants and sweatshirt. I rolled my eyes with a small smile. 

"And," Bruce continued ignoring Jason's comment, " I need someone to pick Damian up from school since Alfred is visiting his niece this week"

"Why can't the brat take the bus or something. I mean, if anything, other people should be worried, not him" Jason complained.

"Jay" I warned.

"What? Tim knows I'm right" he defended, turning to Tim

"He has a point..." Tim said skeptically. 

"But he can't-" I began before Alfred cut me off.

"Why don't we ask Master Damian what he thinks?" Alfred suggested. We all turned to him, but he didn't notice, keeping his focus on his sketches.

"Damian?" I said getting his attention.

"Mahda?" (I used google translate sorry if this is wrong.) He said suddenly looking up. I don't know Arabic so I have no idea what he said. All I know is it was a question. Jason seemed to sense this and mouthed 'what' to me.

"Do you want to take a bus to school or have one of your brothers drive you?" Bruce asked. Damian only looked confused 

"I thought Pennyworth usually brings me to that horrid place?" I saw Jason and Tim share a look.

"Are you telling me you didn't listen to anything we said?" Tim asked incredulously. Damian seemed to understand that he should remember what we said. Not wanting to admit that, he remained silent.

"Alfred and Bruce won't be here this week. How do you want to get to school?" I asked, sensing how awkward he felt.

"Alternatively, I could not go to school" Damian tried. 

"Your brothers it is because I don't want you skipping school" Bruce decided

———————————————————————————  
Tim's POV:

It's our second day of "No Supervision Week" as Jason likes to call it. Technically we have Dick, but that's like having a responsible child watch us. Everyone agreed to take our 'vacations' in the manor. Dick would get to hang out with Barbra a lot more, Jason got to sleep in, and Damian would ignore us all to draw in his sketch book. I, unfortunately, couldn't take my vacation because Gotham is the farthest thing from Honolulu.

It was my turn to pick Damian up from school. After a car ride that seemed to last forever, we made it back to the manor. He barely talked to me the whole time, but I don't take it personally. He's even been ignoring Dick, which says a lot since Dick is his favorite. 

Despite ignoring everyone, Damian followed me to the cave where Jason, Dick, and Barbra were. We walked into a lot of arguing.

"I'm not going to let anyone risk their lives for a drug bust" Dick deadpanned. Barbra seemed to be trying to stay out of this argument.

"We'd be fine. No one's going to die" Jason argued.

"But we're not taking that chance. No one is dying on my watch." Dick said with a finality in his tone.

"Honestly, at this point, I probably wouldn't stay dead." Jason agued back, "or Damian for that matter"

"That's not the-" Dick started before Damian interrupted.

"He's right" Damian said not looking up from his sketches. I guess after last time, he found a way to ignore us but also listen?

"What do you mean?" I asked

"Talia said I'm not allowed to die." He said, his voice devoid of any emotion.

"Excuse me?" Barbara asked, suddenly interested in the conversation. Damian looked up from his sketches confused.

"What?" He asked as if nothing happened. What the hell?

"You literally just told us that Talia said you're not allowed to die?" I reiterated

"I did?" He asked, paying attention now, "Well I mean she did say that"

"What? Why?" Dick asked, very concerned, much like everyone else.

"If I died, she would just put me in the Lazarus Pit" he said with a shrug before returning to his sketches as if nothing happened.

Dick, Barbra, Jason, and I looked to each other with confusion and concern. Just because we all aren't the biggest fans of him sometimes doesn't mean we don't care. Whether he admits it if not, we're still family. This was definitelysoemthimg Bruce needed to hear when he got back. 

———————————————————————————  
Jon's POV:

Damian said that his dad and Alfred left him alone with his brothers this week, so I should come over and we could hang out. He can be a pain, but he's actually kinda nice to hang out with if you're used to him. I flew over to the manor to work on homework with him, but when I entered his room, he barely noticed.

I looked around and saw lots of colored pencils and notebooks lying around his room. He does this sometimes. He'll work on some sketches, but he'll get so involved in them that he tunes other things out. He does this a lot when we get together to do homework, but he's already finished it.

"Hey Damian" I greeted as I found a place on his bed to do homework. 

"Hello Jon" he greeted, looking up from his sketching briefly. I pulled out my homework and began to work. It used to be awkward working in silence with little snippets of conversation here and there, but now it seems comfortable.

"Whatcha working on?" I asked. He doesn't like showing anyone his sketches, but he has showed me some of them before. Sometimes he shows me sometimes he doesn't. I figured I'd ask.

"Just a sketch" he answered vaguely. I guess now was one of those times that I wasn't going to see what he was working on. 

We both worked in silence for a while. When I finished my homework, it was still early. I figured I'd try to talk to Damian. It sounds weird, I know. We talk all the time, but sometime, he doesn't like to talk when he's really engrossed in his work.

"Hey Dami?" I started. He hummed in reply. "Why do you like sketching and art so much?"

"Well" he started a little unsure of how to put it, "you know that I grew up in the League of Assasins. Being in the League wasn't always a good time. Sometimes bad things happened, and sometimes I had to do bad things. Whenever things really sucked, I would draw. I guess it was calming then, and now it's kind of therapeutic." 

As he said this, he continued to sketch, not looking up from his notebook very much. I don't think he really realized how much he just told me about his personal life, but I'm glad he did. Damian is my best friend, and I'm glad he has something to do that makes him happy other than beating up criminals. 

———————————————————————————  
Jason's POV:

Only two more days until Bruce and Alfred come back, which means I only have to babysit a little longer. Dickie, Timbo, and Babs really made a poor decision letting me watch Damian. I'm not too good with people who go around trying to stab me. Luckily, the kid hasn't been too much of a pain. In fact, it's kind of starting to worry everyone. He hasn't really talked to anyone all week. 

I made both of us dinner while the others were out on patrol. We were switching off so that way each day at least some of us could enjoy our vacation we were promised. Except Tim. I felt bad that his vacation got cancelled short. Unfortunately, he took it upon himself to 'make the best of things'; meaning he has a heat lamp, palm tree, and beach chair positioned next to the indoor pool. It was fine until he brought the parrot...

"Hey Damian, I made food if you want it" I called. He soon came in with a sketch book still in hand. Man, what is with him and his sketch book?

We both started eatting, but he stayed focused on his drawings. I try not to take anything really personal, but I'm kind of worried. We don't have the best relationship, ill admit, but he won't even talk to Dick. Everyone knows Dick is his favorite. Maybe he just doesn't like me? Oh my God did I go too far in teasing him? I don't hate the kid. He's my brother, whether he likes it or not. What if he really doesn't want to have me as a brother? No. I can't do this whole spiral thing. I'll just ask him. How bad could it be.

"Hey Damian. You know I don't hate you right?" I tried. God that sounds terrible now look what I've done. Thanks brain.

"Of course Todd" He said, only glancing up briefly. God this kid is not helping me here.

"I know we aren't like actual blood brothers or whatever, but like, I still think of you as my little brother" I tried again

"Of course we're brothers" he said, still barely looking up. He seemed to genuinely think that though. I think?

"Wait you really think that?" I asked. He had made it clear before that he was the "Blood Son"

"Of course Todd. Contrary to popular belief I don't hate you." He said, raising an eyebrow slightly. I let out a small sigh of relief, but he noticed. Shit.

He looked up from his sketches completely to look at me for a moment. God I wish I was a mind reader because this kid has one hell of a poker face. He flipped a few pages before hesitantly handing me his sketchbook.

I looked at what he drew. It was a sketch of me, Dick, and Tim on the rooftop of some building. It looked like it was from the night we all went patrolling together. He got pizza and energy drinks together and had it on the roof. We were all fooling around, but I guess Damian was sketching us. He was starting to add color, and I've gotta say damn this is good.

"Oh my God this is really good" I complimented. He didn't respond, but he reached for his sketchbook and started drawing again. We didn't talk anymore about it, but it made me feel better to know that he cared and that I'm not a completely shitty older brother.

———————————————————————————  
Barbra's POV:

Tonight was my last night at the manor. I usually stay at my apartment, but Dick suggested I stay the week. Bruce and Alfred come back in the mornign. No one went on patrol tonight, but I was still up. I was working on another case when I noticed it was late. I decided to grab a glass of water and go back to bed.

I went to the kitchen, and poured myself some water. On my way back to my room, I noticed everyone's lights were out except for one. I checked the time to see it was 2:13 AM. I know I should be in bed, but so should whoever is up. I start walking towards the door when I realize that it was Damian's room.

Damian is really close with Dick, but I'm not that close with him. He can be really rude, but I try to get along with him. All the same, I don't hate him. I want to make sure he's okay and gets some rest. I lightly knock on his door before letting myself in.

He barely looks up from his notebook when I enter. Seeing as I am now in his room, his closes his sketchbook and begins to sharpen some colored penciled with a knife.

"Gordon?" He questions, not in an unkind way. 

"Hey, I was going to bed, but I saw you were still up. Everything okay?" I asked. We may not be close, but I do care. 

He fiddled with the pencil in his hands before decking it was sharp enough and resuming his drawing. He made sure to angle the book away from me. 

"Everything is find Gordon, you should get some rest" he said defensively. I don't want to pry too much or he'll completely shut me out. All I know is that whatever he was coloring had a lot of dark reds and greens. 

"If you say so. If you ever need anything, I'm here for you." I offered. I started to leave when he seemed to contemplate something.

"Gordon I-" he said as if he were going to say something, but he quickly shut down, "thank you" 

———————————————————————————  
Bruce's POV: 

God I really hope nothing too bad happened. Alfred gets back later tonight and all I can do is hope there's nothing too terrible for me to deal with alone before then. I walk into the manor and see that this is not the case. I am met with everyone but Damian looking concerned.

"Okay so there's a slight situation" Dick started when no one else wanted to. I raised an eyebrow.

"So all week Damian has been sketching and whatnot, and that's fine and all, but its getting concerning" Jason began to elaborate. 

"Yeah, like, he was paying attention to us when he was drawing until today." Tim continued.

"I went to go wake him up for breakfast and he wouldn't talk to anyone or leave him room. He just keeps drawing." Dick said clearly the most worried.

"And I didn't go to bed till after 2 last night, and he was up then. He hasn't slept all night." Barbra finished.

"Did anyone ask him what's wrong?" I said pinching the bridge of my nose. Dick nodded

"But he won't even acknowledge us" Tim added.

"Well did anyone even see what he was drawing?" I asked. They all shared a look.

"Nope. Jason tried to look, but he almost lost his hand" Dick said as Jason rubbed his wrist at the memory.

"I'll go see what I can do" I said as I walked towards Damian's room. Damian didn't have an easy life, and that no excuse, but it could be why he's acting this way. I opened his door and tried as gentle an approach as I could.

"Hey Damian" I said as I took a seat next to him on his bed. This only caused him to sit facing me, angling his sketchbook away from me.

"How was your week?" I asked, trying to start with a general topic.

"Shitty" he mubled, seemingly to himself. To be honest, I was kind of shocked. He usually talks so proper. It's odd hearing the same child who adressses everyone by their last name say their week was shitty.

"What happened?" I pushed a little.

"Nothing, just a shitty week" he said not looking up from the paper. His hand seemed to shake ever so slightly when he talked.

"Did this week remind you of something?" I asked, pushing even further. This seemed to only upset him further

"Leave it alone" he said, trying to leave no room for argument. He tried to ignore me, but he looked to be on the brink of tears.

"Okay. Whatever you say." I said dropping the subject. He looked slightly relieved, but still just as distressed. I know he would never ask for comfort, so I took it upon myself to put my arm around his shoulder. 

Immediately, he put his sketchbook down and clung onto me instead of his pencils. Although he remained silent, I saw the tears slip down his cheeks. I honestly have no idea what's going on, but I'm trying to be here for him. Alfred and Dick have been helping me with that. 

I peekes over at his sketchbook that he accidentally left lying face up and immediately understood. He was drawing the Lazarus Pit, with lots of blood in it. I know Talia wouldn't have hesitated to put Damian in this pit, but I also know that the pit is painful and mentally taxing. I feel terrible that he had to go through that, but all I can do is be here now, so I sit there with Damian on his bed, as we silently embrace each other.


End file.
